Tag! I'm it!

Okay, so I was tagged by both Thomas Kingsley Troupe and Jackie Kessler, so I'm totally cheating and blogging once. :)=

Here are the rules:

1. Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves.

2. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed.

3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

I decided that it would be fun to have my 13-year-old son, Jacob, tell you eight things about me. So here he is!

1. She's a good mom, we chat with one another on IMVU and Yahoo when we're in the same room.

2. Her idea of cooking is dialing Papa John's.

3. She introduced me to Stephen King's books.

4. She sucks at sports (of course, we both share that one...).

5. She's NOT a morning person.

6. Don't throw anything at her, cuz she can't catch.

7. She LOVES My Chemical Romance.

8. She picks her nose while she sleeps (Nah, I'm kidding!).

I'm tagging Holly Black, Cecil Castellucci, Lisa McMann, Little Willow, Gena Showalter, and all three of the fabulous Disco Mermaids.

Who Knew I Talked About Death So Much?

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

death (6x) hell (4x) suck (2x) slut (1x)

Ummm...okay.

What about your blog?

(Thanks to Finding Wonderland for the link!)

His Pants Are Touchable!

It's here. My book. THE CHRONICLES OF VLADIMIR TOD: EIGHTH GRADE BITES. In my hands. It's real.

The Fed Ex guy dropped off an envelope earlier. I didn't think much of it--in fact, it was the first time I'd received an envelope from Penguin where I didn't squeal and jump up and down. (Hmmm...maybe I'm maturing?) My son asked if it was the new catalog (because we'd just discussed my catalog copy for NINTH GRADE SLAYS a few days ago), and I said no, thinking maybe my editor had decided to do something sweet and send me a book as a gift.

And then I openeed it. And it was sweeter than sweet. Then I gasped and held it to my chest, hardly able to believe what I was seeing. My son and daughter asked what it was, so I pulled the book out of the envelope and showed them. They hugged me so tight and we jumped up and down...and the thing that really blew me away was how I felt when I looked at it...how I feel now as I look over at my book, my dream come true.

Now, something you need to know is that I'm not a fatalist. I don't believe in predetermined destiny. But looking at my book, I feel as if my life has been leading up to this moment, to holding that book, that it's just supposed to be this way. Is that odd? I'd expected to cry, to finally feel like a real, live author. But I didn't. I just felt like me...only thrilled out of my mind to be holdng my book at last.

And it's gorgeous, too! It has a matte cover, with raised black and red ink in various spots (all of the black on the front is raised--Vlad's pants are touchable), and on the actual hardcover there's red foil stamping with a red foil smiley on the front! Dutton is amazing. And I'm so lucky to be a part of this.

You're a part of it too, each and every one of you. Just hang in there...it won't be long now!

Vlad and Lexie Need Friends!

By now, Minions, you probably know about Vladimir Tod, my teenage vampire protagonist (you should, anyway--if not, where have you BEEN??). But did you know that he recently became friends with Lexie Livingstone from Adele Griffin's VAMPIRE ISLAND? *gasp* You didn't???

Well, here's your chance to get in with all the gossip. Vlad and Lexie are going to be email penpals...and Adele and I are going to post all of their emails online, for your voyeuristic enjoyment! They have a MySpace page now--why don't you friend them? Link them? Spread the word about them! Because this...is going to be fangtastic.

Fangs a lot!

New Title!

No, no, my loyal Minions. We won't be losing the title of EIGHTH GRADE BITES anytime soon (it just rocks that much, I guess). However, the second book in The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series now has an official, publisher-approved title: NINTH GRADE SLAYS. It's sooo fitting for this book, and I'm super excited about it. Plus, I've already seen the drool-worthy approach to NGS's cover! Wow, Dutton is on the ball...

So sorry I've been a bad blogger lately. So much good going on right now that I can't really talk about yet. But I'll update you all soon!

Fangtastic Authors versus the Hotel of Death

Greetings, my loyal Minions! I can't tell you how much Auntie Heather missed you all, but I'm happy to pass on that not only is our Minion Horde growing by leaps and bounds after my recent trip to New York, but I've also managed to survive the Hotel of Death...in large part thanks to the brilliant, stunning, ever-talented (not to mention wicked--don't let her fool you, that woman has a demon in her. I know, her name is Jezebel.) Jackie Kessler. Jackie and I roomed together at the Hotel of Death. (Let's just say there was a bleeding shower and bizarre, unexplainable bruises going on...) She rocks. Go buy her books, because dude...you are totally going to wish you got in on her HELL ON EARTH series right away. It rawks muchly.

Jackie and I even had dinner with the completely adorable Michelle Rowen! And Michelle brought me an ARC. She's totally in the Horde now. Hmm. Wonder if she knows. Go buy her books too! (Geez, I'm a bossy Minion Overlord today, aren't I?)

I had dinner with the fabulous Michael Bourret, whom I'm pretty sure will be leaving agenting any day now in order to ascend to god status. We were also on a panel...and we rocked the house. So did Barb Ferrer and her agent, Caren Johnson--yay, us!

And, dope that I am, I was running extremely late and missed my meet-up with my amazing editor, Maureen Sullivan. *sobs* But...the rest of the conference was excellent. Lots of old friends, lots of new, plenty of questions about Vlad. And the dinner was fantastic!
(pic thanks to Becky Motew--left to right: Jackie Kessler, moi!, Georgie (omg..totally blanking on Georgie's last name!), Eileen Cruz Coleman, Terri Molina, EJ Knapp, and Shana Silver on the other side)

And...I met with Adele Griffin (author of the upcoming VAMPIRE ISLAND)! Something tells me Adele and I are going to be friends for a long time. But, more on our cool meeting later. For now, I just want to squish you all (in a good way) and let you in on a cool new detail.

WE HAVE NEW BLING! It's awesome, has the smiley that's featured on Vlad's sweatshirt. You want some? Drop me a line! (see the sidebar for contact info)

For now, Auntie Heather is in recovery (and Vlad is demanding my time). But once I'm sane again, I'll catch you all up even more.